August 2023 hatch-a-long

[junior67]

This is my second broody, my OE last year did a great job! I keep mine inside for about 3 days to make sure everyone is eating and drinking, then outside they go. I've got a 6x8 breeding pen that I added a grow out coop to, it works great! By 2-3 weeks they are running around with the bigs, my roo adores chicks! Pics, just cuz they're cute, lol

I like when broodys raise them, but I tried a couple new ones this year and it wasn't good so now nervous to try them. But last year I had 4 that raised babies. This year one of those went broody and just got done raising 8.

 

[junior67]

Woohoo!!!!! Won the CCL eggs on eBay!!! They should ship Mon as well as the ones from my other breeder. So should have them Wed or Thurs

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Woohoo!!!!! Won the CCL eggs on eBay!!! They should ship Mon as well as the ones from my other breeder. So should have them Wed or Thurs

Whoo-hoo congrats!!

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I like when broodys raise them, but I tried a couple new ones this year and it wasn't good so now nervous to try them. But last year I had 4 that raised babies. This year one of those went broody and just got done raising 8.

This is my first this year and it's her first time going broody, so far she has been fantastic...hasn't nest swapped once, gets out for an hour or so every day at the hottest part of the day and takes care of her business, and is a raving lunatic, lol, I hope she's a good momma. What happened with your broodies this year? I remember how cute and awesome the ones from last year were.

 

[junior67]

This is my first this year and it's her first time going broody, so far she has been fantastic...hasn't nest swapped once, gets out for an hour or so every day at the hottest part of the day and takes care of her business, and is a raving lunatic, lol, I hope she's a good momma. What happened with your broodies this year? I remember how cute and awesome the ones from last year were.

well lets see....... I have a Faverolles that went broody so tried her with a few eggs to check fertility. She was in the EE's fav nest box so she kept kicking her out so she could lay.... it is a big shared nest box but the girls only lay on one side. So I moved the broody to the other side, perfect..... nope...... Then my CCL decided to be a jerk and beat the Faverolles up (normally no issues) then kick the eggs around, one got broken. so put a box in the nest box and broody in that..... figured harder for the other to get in maybe she would leave her alone...... Nope. kicked her out and tipped the box over etc. managed to save a couple eggs and said forget it and broke her......

Then my splash Cochin I figured I would give a chance since she was broody (again.......) she was doing great, others would go in and lay but not kick her out or bother her eggs, great! I also had some eggs in the incubator I was going to give her once the babies hatched but in case something went wrong I didn't want to lose a whole batch. First baby hatches and things are going good. she had 2 others under her I think. 2nd hatches and I happen to look at my camera and another girl was in the nest box pecking at a baby. go running out (thankfully I was home) and it had a tiny wound but not bad. So grab that baby, her first baby is running around alone outside of the nest boxes in the coop, so took that one and the egg under her and she was done being a mama...

gave a proven broody some eggs at hatch time, she was on the nest the whole time on fake eggs...... One hatched and she was doing great (again had eggs in the incubator to give her. LOL but she had a trial egg to see how it worked) so gave her another baby and all was good. then I moved her to a tote nest box since mine have a lip on them and babies can't get in and I didn't have time to set up "stairs" for them. She settled in there great but one baby got squished since the box was smaller then my huge nest boxes, I felt so bad! So went and found a bigger tote and got it all set up for her, head out to give it to her and more babies, get that box set and go to move her and the baby and the baby is no where to be found.... I was searching and watching back the video. I saw her go in the reg nest boxes and baby running all over the coop (I had chicks in my brooder with the chick doors opened and a broody breaker in there since I had just released a broody and hadn't broken it down yet, so chick was in the broody breaker, running all over. Sure mama was calling it but she couldn't find her. Well then it went out of camera view. decided to go check something and YUP it found its way into the brooder with the other chicks and was under the MHP!!!!!! But didn't have time to build steps so took the babies back in the house with me to that brooder and broke her...... LOL

then I attempted with another proven one since timing was way off and I had chicks in the coop already integrated, chicks of a couple ages in the coop brooder etc. so had no choice really since I didn't have a spot for them. LOL Well she did GREAT!!!!!! I made steps and left her in the other nest boxes. PHEW!!!! She actually just stopped mothering them a couple days ago like a day before they turned 7 weeks!

I now have FOUR!!!!!!!! broodies but they are all my younger ones..... the Faverolle and the cochin are broody AGAIN....... My frizzle project cochin is broody AGAIN........ and my buttercup (who is a NASTY NASTY broody) is broody AGAIN and has been for about 5 weeks! I have chicks that still refuse to leave the coop so don't have room for my broody breaker in there, was hoping to have new coop finished so I could move all the broodies in there and hope a new place would break them all at once but it isn't quite done........ Not sure how the buttercup would be as a mom but she is a really great broody! I wear gloves to protect myself when collecting eggs! I NEED to break her though as she shows NO signs of quitting on her own, thankfully she is still in good body condition..... my frizzle the last couple times has broken herself after a couple weeks so hoping the same this time. But the whole spring/summer one goes broody and then another, as soon as I break one another goes broody...... but with like 10 chicks running around in there refusing to go out to the run I hate taking that space away with a crate. UGH!

well that was a LONG story. sorry!!!!! LOL

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

well lets see....... I have a Faverolles that went broody so tried her with a few eggs to check fertility. She was in the EE's fav nest box so she kept kicking her out so she could lay.... it is a big shared nest box but the girls only lay on one side. So I moved the broody to the other side, perfect..... nope...... Then my CCL decided to be a jerk and beat the Faverolles up (normally no issues) then kick the eggs around, one got broken. so put a box in the nest box and broody in that..... figured harder for the other to get in maybe she would leave her alone...... Nope. kicked her out and tipped the box over etc. managed to save a couple eggs and said forget it and broke her......

Then my splash Cochin I figured I would give a chance since she was broody (again.......) she was doing great, others would go in and lay but not kick her out or bother her eggs, great! I also had some eggs in the incubator I was going to give her once the babies hatched but in case something went wrong I didn't want to lose a whole batch. First baby hatches and things are going good. she had 2 others under her I think. 2nd hatches and I happen to look at my camera and another girl was in the nest box pecking at a baby. go running out (thankfully I was home) and it had a tiny wound but not bad. So grab that baby, her first baby is running around alone outside of the nest boxes in the coop, so took that one and the egg under her and she was done being a mama...

gave a proven broody some eggs at hatch time, she was on the nest the whole time on fake eggs...... One hatched and she was doing great (again had eggs in the incubator to give her. LOL but she had a trial egg to see how it worked) so gave her another baby and all was good. then I moved her to a tote nest box since mine have a lip on them and babies can't get in and I didn't have time to set up "stairs" for them. She settled in there great but one baby got squished since the box was smaller then my huge nest boxes, I felt so bad! So went and found a bigger tote and got it all set up for her, head out to give it to her and more babies, get that box set and go to move her and the baby and the baby is no where to be found.... I was searching and watching back the video. I saw her go in the reg nest boxes and baby running all over the coop (I had chicks in my brooder with the chick doors opened and a broody breaker in there since I had just released a broody and hadn't broken it down yet, so chick was in the broody breaker, running all over. Sure mama was calling it but she couldn't find her. Well then it went out of camera view. decided to go check something and YUP it found its way into the brooder with the other chicks and was under the MHP!!!!!! But didn't have time to build steps so took the babies back in the house with me to that brooder and broke her...... LOL

then I attempted with another proven one since timing was way off and I had chicks in the coop already integrated, chicks of a couple ages in the coop brooder etc. so had no choice really since I didn't have a spot for them. LOL Well she did GREAT!!!!!! I made steps and left her in the other nest boxes. PHEW!!!! She actually just stopped mothering them a couple days ago like a day before they turned 7 weeks!

I now have FOUR!!!!!!!! broodies but they are all my younger ones..... the Faverolle and the cochin are broody AGAIN....... My frizzle project cochin is broody AGAIN........ and my buttercup (who is a NASTY NASTY broody) is broody AGAIN and has been for about 5 weeks! I have chicks that still refuse to leave the coop so don't have room for my broody breaker in there, was hoping to have new coop finished so I could move all the broodies in there and hope a new place would break them all at once but it isn't quite done........ Not sure how the buttercup would be as a mom but she is a really great broody! I wear gloves to protect myself when collecting eggs! I NEED to break her though as she shows NO signs of quitting on her own, thankfully she is still in good body condition..... my frizzle the last couple times has broken herself after a couple weeks so hoping the same this time. But the whole spring/summer one goes broody and then another, as soon as I break one another goes broody...... but with like 10 chicks running around in there refusing to go out to the run I hate taking that space away with a crate. UGH!

well that was a LONG story. sorry!!!!! LOL

I am kinda happy I've not experienced a broody...I am not sure my girls are trustworthy!! Plus I like to kinda control those things.... it'd be easier for sure if a momma raised them though!!

 

[Auntiejessi3]

well lets see....... I have a Faverolles that went broody so tried her with a few eggs to check fertility. She was in the EE's fav nest box so she kept kicking her out so she could lay.... it is a big shared nest box but the girls only lay on one side. So I moved the broody to the other side, perfect..... nope...... Then my CCL decided to be a jerk and beat the Faverolles up (normally no issues) then kick the eggs around, one got broken. so put a box in the nest box and broody in that..... figured harder for the other to get in maybe she would leave her alone...... Nope. kicked her out and tipped the box over etc. managed to save a couple eggs and said forget it and broke her......

Then my splash Cochin I figured I would give a chance since she was broody (again.......) she was doing great, others would go in and lay but not kick her out or bother her eggs, great! I also had some eggs in the incubator I was going to give her once the babies hatched but in case something went wrong I didn't want to lose a whole batch. First baby hatches and things are going good. she had 2 others under her I think. 2nd hatches and I happen to look at my camera and another girl was in the nest box pecking at a baby. go running out (thankfully I was home) and it had a tiny wound but not bad. So grab that baby, her first baby is running around alone outside of the nest boxes in the coop, so took that one and the egg under her and she was done being a mama...

gave a proven broody some eggs at hatch time, she was on the nest the whole time on fake eggs...... One hatched and she was doing great (again had eggs in the incubator to give her. LOL but she had a trial egg to see how it worked) so gave her another baby and all was good. then I moved her to a tote nest box since mine have a lip on them and babies can't get in and I didn't have time to set up "stairs" for them. She settled in there great but one baby got squished since the box was smaller then my huge nest boxes, I felt so bad! So went and found a bigger tote and got it all set up for her, head out to give it to her and more babies, get that box set and go to move her and the baby and the baby is no where to be found.... I was searching and watching back the video. I saw her go in the reg nest boxes and baby running all over the coop (I had chicks in my brooder with the chick doors opened and a broody breaker in there since I had just released a broody and hadn't broken it down yet, so chick was in the broody breaker, running all over. Sure mama was calling it but she couldn't find her. Well then it went out of camera view. decided to go check something and YUP it found its way into the brooder with the other chicks and was under the MHP!!!!!! But didn't have time to build steps so took the babies back in the house with me to that brooder and broke her...... LOL

then I attempted with another proven one since timing was way off and I had chicks in the coop already integrated, chicks of a couple ages in the coop brooder etc. so had no choice really since I didn't have a spot for them. LOL Well she did GREAT!!!!!! I made steps and left her in the other nest boxes. PHEW!!!! She actually just stopped mothering them a couple days ago like a day before they turned 7 weeks!

I now have FOUR!!!!!!!! broodies but they are all my younger ones..... the Faverolle and the cochin are broody AGAIN....... My frizzle project cochin is broody AGAIN........ and my buttercup (who is a NASTY NASTY broody) is broody AGAIN and has been for about 5 weeks! I have chicks that still refuse to leave the coop so don't have room for my broody breaker in there, was hoping to have new coop finished so I could move all the broodies in there and hope a new place would break them all at once but it isn't quite done........ Not sure how the buttercup would be as a mom but she is a really great broody! I wear gloves to protect myself when collecting eggs! I NEED to break her though as she shows NO signs of quitting on her own, thankfully she is still in good body condition..... my frizzle the last couple times has broken herself after a couple weeks so hoping the same this time. But the whole spring/summer one goes broody and then another, as soon as I break one another goes broody...... but with like 10 chicks running around in there refusing to go out to the run I hate taking that space away with a crate. UGH!

well that was a LONG story. sorry!!!!! LOL

Dang! Talk about a soap opera, lol

 

[junior67]

Dang! Talk about a soap opera, lol

YES! LOL I didn't have that issue last year besides a bit of nest swapping. This year it seems they will stay put on one nest until I give them real eggs then after a few days they swap...

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Eggs didn't ship yesterday, I had asked seller to possibly ship on a Monday so I may be waiting till next wk...

If she ships on a monday...that allows me to set on a wednesday...my days off of work are tues-thurs which means I'd be available for the hatch.


In the mean time I am setting some of my Galaxies (my dual purpose barred rocks) eggs back to substitute for any broken ones I may receive.

Do you guys try to stay available for hatch or what is...is what is...

I just like to watch them

 

[junior67]

Eggs didn't ship yesterday, I had asked seller to possibly ship on a Monday so I may be waiting till next wk...

If she ships on a monday...that allows me to set on a wednesday...my days off of work are tues-thurs which means I'd be available for the hatch.


In the mean time I am setting some of my Galaxies (my dual purpose barred rocks) eggs back to substitute for any broken ones I may receive.

Do you guys try to stay available for hatch or what is...is what is...

I just like to watch them

I try to make it when I am home but my schedule changes each week so it is hard. And a lot of times mine hatch a day early. Most times I try to set at night hoping that I will at least be home from work if I have to work that day since I only work part time so out by 4 at the latest. LOL Lately we are gone almost every weekend so I have to plan lockdown around that so I don't have to have someone worry about adding that much water and really watching it. My pet sitter will add water once a day but not sure I would trust her once they are in lockdown so that is mainly where my focus is and then just hope I am home. But I do put my camera on them normally and watch that if I am not home. haahaa!

I know the ebay eggs I won shipped and says should be here Thurs. I haven't heard on the replacement eggs that my seller was going to be sending. was hoping they shipped yesterday since I need to set those before we are gone for the weekend. LOL